Real Estate Professional Status

[Colin Reid]

I have a question about Real Estate Professional status as it pertains to taxes. I've been an investor for about 4 years since I moved out of my first home and rented it out. Since then, I have bought two more homes, one being my primary residence and one a pure rental I've never lived in. I got married in 2015 and my wife brought her first home, now rented, to the portfolio. With properties across three states, we decided to hire a CPA to do our taxes. He told us that due to my wife's high income, we cannot deduct our rental property expenses unless one of us (me) becomes a Real Estate Professional, devoting 750 hours per year to real estate. I've never heard this mentioned on the forums, or in any RE books or other media for that matter. I am working on getting licensed but I had planned on using it for referrals only, due to my job being fairly demanding and rigidly scheduled. I'm active duty military and don't have the option to quit for another two years.